UC Santa Cruz Goes Bald to Support Childhood Cancer Research

Staff and students join St. Baldrick’s Foundation event to raise money to fight childhood cancer

SANTA CRUZ, CA – October 17 , 2017 – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-powered organization dedicated to raising money for children’s cancer research, will host one of its signature head-shaving events at UC Santa Cruz’s Science & Engineering Library on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 1-4pm, where more than 11 UCSC staff and students will shave their heads to raise money for lifesaving research.

Sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute’s Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative, the October 25th event is once again open to the public. Anyone who wants to support those shaving or sign to up to go bald can do so at www.stbaldricks.org/events/UCSC2017.

“It’s a fantastic way to show your support for kids undergoing treatment for childhood cancer,” said Katrina Learned, a UCSC Treehouse staff member who shaved last year in honor of her four-year-old daughter Aurora. Aurora, a childhood cancer survivor, was also one of the inspirations for founding the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute’s Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative.

Every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer; one in five won’t survive, and those who do often suffer long-term effects from treatments. Donations raised at events like this have made it possible for St. Baldrick’s to fund more than $200 million to support the development of childhood cancer treatments that are as unique as every kid. Some of this is invested in projects St. Baldrick’s Foundation funds at UCSC Treehouse in our continued battle against childhood cancer — like an 11,000+ tumor database available for use by all researchers in the pediatric cancer community and beyond. Learn more at treehousegenomics.ucsc.edu/explore-our-data.

About the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative
The mission of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute’s Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative is to change the story for childhood cancer patients by employing genomic data and computational approaches that could identify less toxic and more effective treatments. Treehouse analyzes a child’s cancer data against both childhood and adult patient cohorts across all types of cancer. This “pan-cancer” analysis of adult and pediatric tumors may identify situations where an adult drug is predicted to work on a subset of pediatric patients.

As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation believes that kids are special and deserve to be treated that way. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts who are working to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. Kids need treatments as unique as they are – and that starts with funding research just for them. Join us at StBaldricks.org to help support the best cancer treatments for kids.